Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

How I relate to that! This scenario is so recognizable when I look back on longterm and shortterm patterns in my life. It begins with my rebellion against God’s best for me. With me pursuing something which might be ok in moderation, or at another time or place, etc… But I know somewhere deep down that it’s not what God wants for me then. And when things go wrong, I get downcast and angry, and certainly don’t feel like prayer. Actually, things don’t even need to go wrong. Even knowing that I’m rebelling against God, with things going outwardly fine, yields frustration and the inability to enjoy my day.

Something God has been impressing upon me is the absolute importance of daily time with Him. And making that time a priority. That doesn’t mean it has to be long everyday, or that an appointment can’t reshuffle things, or that I have to write an entry here (which takes quite a while). But in the morning, I sometimes struggle between clicking on the news and stock ticker, and opening the Bible. In my mind, I think I rationalize: “What’s new, what happened while I was asleep? The news and stocks will be different, whereas the Bible has been written for two thousand years…” But the issue is priority. Another person could probably check the news first and then change gears. But I know for me, I need to come to God first - for practical reasons (I get easily distracted), and for symbolic reasons (going to God first timewise seems to put Him first in my heart that day).

Yesterday, that little compromise made for a bad day at work. With a tiny twinge of guilt, I looked at Yahoo news (just for a second!). But what’s this, shorting bond funds is a hedge against rising interest rates? That’s interesting! And so it goes, two hours later I need to rush off to work.

In my last entry, I noticed that Jesus answered the rich man by stating something obvious. Nothing is good in itself except God. All sin derives from believing the opposite in one way or another. Wanting what is good is not a problem. The problem is, we don’t know what is good. Name one person who could orchestrate his own life for ultimate good, let alone everyone’s lives. So if we look for our own good, that’s sin. Jesus tells us what we should do instead: “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” And God to Cain: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” We should do what God tells us to do, not what we feel like doing!

This is all obvious, but I think it’s interesting how the Bible ebbs and flows and remains self-consistent and immensely applicable the more it is examined. And a continual reminder of “basic” truth is one goal for this blog. The other main goal is growth in the only things that make obeying God possible: belief in and relationship with Him. And this trinity — obedience, faith, and love — are what make life worthwhile. I wonder if hope and obedience are closely related somehow given 1 Corinthians 13:13… Ah well, another time…